https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bps3m4eFTuE

Abby Mengesha

Ori Maior 

Hang Yang

 

In the 2020 Democratic National Convention speech by Barack Obama, out of the three appeals, ethos, pathos, and logos, the dominant appeal in the video was pathos. Obama uses pathos effectively to appeal to the audience so that we understand how important this upcoming election is. Obama started by addressing the country’s current political climate and how it’s more important now than ever to vote. He uses pathos by talking about the Black Lives Matter movement, the pandemic, other things affecting us. He starts his speech off by addressing these things so that we can become more sympathetic and feel a connection to what he is going to say. Then he proceeds to speak on the core of his speech which was, why it’s important to vote for Joe Biden so that President Donald Trump isn’t elected again. When speaking about Joe Biden, Obama uses specific stories that ‘everyday people’ can relate to. For example, he talks about how Biden would take the train home every night. Throughout the speech, we see that pathos is the dominant appeal; Obama appeals to the audience’s pathos by telling stories we can relate to and problems that are affecting us all. While pathos is the dominant appeal throughout the speech, ethos and logos are used as well. Obama establishes his credibility by using ethos. He used to be the United States president, so many people are open to listening to what he has to say. He uses logos by stating how poor leadership has affected the country, the percentage of unemployment has increased, and many people have lost their lives due to the pandemic. Obama uses ethos, pathos, and logos effectively to appeal to the audience in the way he intended and conveyed his message clearly.